Polyptoton

A figure of speech known as polyptoton uses words with the same root many times (such as "blood" and "bleed"). Because it uses both the words "watch" and "watchmen", the question "Who shall watch the watchmen?" is an example of polyptoton. Both Latin and Old English poetry frequently employ polyptoton. Though less often now, it may still be found in speeches, fiction, and poetry.

As in the aforementioned example, polyptoton is most frequently seen within a single sentence: "Who shall monitor the watchmen?" In fact, according to some rhetoricians, polyptoton can only happen if the repeated phrases are near to one another. Polyptoton, however, is viewed by some literary critics as something that can happen over longer passages of text, such as a paragraph, an essay, or even a book. The book Frankenstein is the example used the most frequently for this kind of polyptoton. Mary Shelley carefully uses words with the same root (wretched, wretchedly, and wretchedness) throughout the book, describing the creature that Frankenstein creates as a wretch.

In phrases like sanctum sanctorum ("holy of holies"), the form is relatively common in Latin Christian poetry and prose. It later made its way into other languages, including Old English, which naturally preferred the prevalent alliteration that is a feature of polyptoton—in fact, polyptoton is "much more prevalent in Old English verse than in Latin verse". However, Old English's unique superlative genitive does not appear in any other poetry than Latinate Christian poetry.